We just got back from doing IOA only. If we had had a choice, I would have chosen Universal. Universal offers more choices, including a fruit bowl. Having said that, the food at IOA was surprisingly good--baked chicken, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, yummy chocolate cake and lemon cake, etc. The salad had been sitting in dressing for too long, so that was pretty wilted, unfortunately. Next time I would request a salad with dressing on the side. The stir-fry looked good, but we were too full to try it.
This was our first time using the meal deal. The biggest drawback, IMHP, is that you have to get back in the long, loonnggg, line with everyone else in order to get a second plate of food. I stood in line at 1:30 for 30 min. to get my first plate and didn't want to waste park time waiting another 30 min. for my 2nd plate. We then ate supper at 7:30 and the lines were still long, so it was another 30 min. in line for that meal, too. Whenever we walked by a restaurant, we peeked in to check on the lines, and they were long like that ALL day. Basically, we ended up breaking even, because we just didn't want to spend that much of our day getting seconds on food.
I was chatting with other meal dealers in line and we said, "Wouldn't it be great if they had an Express line at the restaurants for the meal dealers, like they have Express passes for the rides?" Avoiding the long counter service lines would probably be the Meal Deal's best selling point!
